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When is Microsoft going to up the bandwidth afforded to voice communication like they said they were. The quality is utter shit, like I'm talking to somebody over a dial-up connection on my computer from 1995.

XBL voice sounds just like Roger Wilco from ten years ago.

But actually, they are upping it. New voice codec is being pushed with the fall dashboard update.

If you like Microsoft so much why don't you marry them?

maybe I will

Oh good, can you get me a game discount and like a live discount?

hook me up with more princess peach burlesque and we'll see if we can work something out.

When is Microsoft going to up the bandwidth afforded to voice communication like they said they were. The quality is utter shit, like I'm talking to somebody over a dial-up connection on my computer from 1995.

XBL voice sounds just like Roger Wilco from ten years ago.

But actually, they are upping it. New voice codec is being pushed with the fall dashboard update.

If you like Microsoft so much why don't you marry them?

maybe I will

Oh good, can you get me a game discount and like a live discount?

hook me up with more princess peach burlesque and we'll see if we can work something out.

I guess my point is that, as someone who is intensely concerned with evolution, and whose driving question is "how did this trait arise?", I can't seem to come up with any sort of logical reason that, say, a woman, or an asian would do better or worse at something like math without invoking some sort of outside influence that precludes a genetic explanation.

in fairness, sickle cell anemia was noted to be common in people of north-african descent long before the causal vector was established.

it strikes me that you're holding a much higher bar for considerations of genetic differences than you are socio-economic or cultural causes, which you generally heartily endorse with naught but a handwave.

Yes I am! Because it is phenomenally difficult to accurately pin these behaviors to genetics alone. And if you DO pin it to genetics, then you have to explain WHY IT IS GENETICALLY BASED!

With sickle cell this is easy! Sickle cell confers a selective advantage in the african population!

But how do you explain it if you found that african americans have genetically-linked poor academic performance?

[devil's advocate]
The obvious answer is that poor academic performance would be a by-product of a complexly related aspect that was selected for.
[/devil's advocate]

I guess my point is that, as someone who is intensely concerned with evolution, and whose driving question is "how did this trait arise?", I can't seem to come up with any sort of logical reason that, say, a woman, or an asian would do better or worse at something like math without invoking some sort of outside influence that precludes a genetic explanation.

in fairness, sickle cell anemia was noted to be common in people of north-african descent long before the causal vector was established.

it strikes me that you're holding a much higher bar for considerations of genetic differences than you are socio-economic or cultural causes, which you generally heartily endorse with naught but a handwave.

Yes I am! Because it is phenomenally difficult to accurately pin these behaviors to genetics alone. And if you DO pin it to genetics, then you have to explain WHY IT IS GENETICALLY BASED!

With sickle cell this is easy! Sickle cell confers a selective advantage in the african population!

But how do you explain it if you found that african americans have genetically-linked poor academic performance?

there are certainly genetic maladaptions and chaff. i don't subscribe to it, but the argument that some anthropologists made was that a lack of scarcity and hardship in some environments selected away from some sorts of visualization or problem-solving skills.

i certainly don't know enough about prehistoric societies, and maybe no one does, but in any case establishment of a genetic link doesn't necessarily require a complete understanding of every environmentally causal factor.

i mean, i don't really know why east asian people have epicanthal folds, but they do!

Anyone got a free trial card or one month card lying around they're not using?

I'll give you internet sex*

*internet sex is not actually sex of any kind whatsoever, just [chat]

Just have her create a new Xbox Live ID? You get a free month of Live Gold with a new ID now, if I remember the situation right.

you've always done that but can you do that without the starter pack now?

anyway, seriously, I got cards, it would be no hassle

Pretty sure you can.

I played Modern Warfare on my roomie's fiance's Xbox when I was living with them, and had no XBox of my own. He had Gold on his account, and I signed up my Live ID and bam! I had Gold free for a month.

My buddy is in Toronto doing contract work right now. He didn't expect to be out there for the extended time he's going to be out there for (and is really fucking bored). He bought another Xbox to play out there and signed up a new Live ID and has been playing Red Dead with us back in town no problemo.

I mean, I don't see how people don't mentally check themselves when they hear the statement "African Americans are genetically worse at this action than another group"*.

Even if we can prove that, how are people not a bit worried about the implications of that sentence?

*fix for whatever group you want, the analogies holds

Even if you frame it as "X group performs better than Y at Z task," the sentence still says the same thing if you write it as "Y is not as good at Z as X".

Which is then a statement of inferiority or superiority.

And yes, maybe simply asking the question isn't inherently racist, but if you got to that answer what then? And additionally, it is still (and I will maintain this ad nauseum) so difficult to pin it down to genetics that why even bother; it is much easier to address the societal basis of this discrepancy.

Items + ressurection speed buff + speed buffs from multiple champions + the ramping up speed buff of Rammus' spin. I think the res speed buff may be gone now, or lessened, not sure, but there are other champs that can give speed buffs now too.

I mean, I don't see how people don't mentally check themselves when they hear the statement "African Americans are genetically worse at this action than another group"*.

Even if we can prove that, how are people not a bit worried about the implications of that sentence?

*fix for whatever group you want, the analogies holds

Even if you frame it as "X group performs better than Y at Z task," the sentence still says the same thing if you write it as "Y is not as good at Z as X".

Which is then a statement of inferiority or superiority.

And yes, maybe simply asking the question isn't inherently racist, but if you got to that answer what then? And additionally, it is still (and I will maintain this ad nauseum) so difficult to pin it down to genetics that why even bother; it is much easier to address the societal basis of this discrepancy.

I guess my point is that, as someone who is intensely concerned with evolution, and whose driving question is "how did this trait arise?", I can't seem to come up with any sort of logical reason that, say, a woman, or an asian would do better or worse at something like math without invoking some sort of outside influence that precludes a genetic explanation.

in fairness, sickle cell anemia was noted to be common in people of north-african descent long before the causal vector was established.

it strikes me that you're holding a much higher bar for considerations of genetic differences than you are socio-economic or cultural causes, which you generally heartily endorse with naught but a handwave.

Yes I am! Because it is phenomenally difficult to accurately pin these behaviors to genetics alone. And if you DO pin it to genetics, then you have to explain WHY IT IS GENETICALLY BASED!

With sickle cell this is easy! Sickle cell confers a selective advantage in the african population!

But how do you explain it if you found that african americans have genetically-linked poor academic performance?

[devil's advocate]
The obvious answer is that poor academic performance would be a by-product of a complexly related aspect that was selected for.
[/devil's advocate]

But then, like sickle-cell, it isn't a race thing so much as it is a coincidence.

I mean, I don't see how people don't mentally check themselves when they hear the statement "African Americans are genetically worse at this action than another group"*.

Even if we can prove that, how are people not a bit worried about the implications of that sentence?

*fix for whatever group you want, the analogies holds

Even if you frame it as "X group performs better than Y at Z task," the sentence still says the same thing if you write it as "Y is not as good at Z as X".

Which is then a statement of inferiority or superiority.

And yes, maybe simply asking the question isn't inherently racist, but if you got to that answer what then? And additionally, it is still (and I will maintain this ad nauseum) so difficult to pin it down to genetics that why even bother; it is much easier to address the societal basis of this discrepancy.

A long time ago I made the conscious decision that I would never attempt to shield myself from the truth for that reason.

But I don't disagree with the following assertion, but I will say that I don't think it will stay that way forever. Once we understand a lot more about the way the brain works, the way that genetics interact with behavior, etc, these are questions that will have to come up.

It's permanently free. Basically, every week they give you a different set of free champions. You can play these guys as much as you'd like. If you'd like to have a champion permanently unlocked you can buy them in one of two ways. You can buy them via influence points which you accrue by playing the game or you can buy them with riot points which you purchase with money.

The only thing you can purchase with only money is extra costumes for champions, but those are obviously purely cosmetic.